Peru agrees on funding for Key Building project which could bring restaurant and brewery to downtown

The Peru City Council has agreed to amend the budget to
allow for an additional appropriation to go toward the construction of a
building rehabilitation project, which could bring a new local
restaurant and brewery to Peru.

Executive Director of the Miami
County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA) Jim Tidd brought the
project before the council on Monday evening. He explained that with
their Key Building program, they identify buildings downtown that are
key to the community and would take more work than a paint job or
sprucing up.

Tidd said the buildings might have structural damage
and are in need of serious rehabilitation to make them usable. One of
the first buildings they’ve identified for the program, is the old T.J.
Phillips building on 20 E. Fifth St.

After deciding this building
is a key part of the community and was in need of some serious work,
Tidd said they advertised it in local newspapers for anyone who might
have been interested in partnering with the city to develop the
building.

There was one response for the building which came from
two local businessmen, Jason McClure and Chadd Pattison. Since then,
McClure and Pattison and the Key Building program committee have worked
to go over rehabilitation plans for the building, code requirements and
came up with a budget for putting the building back into a useful state.

McClure
addressed the council and said he and Pattison plan to turn the
upstairs portion of the building into apartments and the downstairs
portion into a pizza restaurant and brewery where they will produce
local beer and sodas.

Tidd said the two of them also plan to utilize the alleyway for outdoor seating.

After
creating a budget, Tidd said they have set it at $300,000. The proposed
agreement was that the city would pay for half, at $150,000.

However,
if the cost went up in price by $100,000 – reaching $400,000 – the two
developers would be responsible for paying for $50,000 of it and the
city would match it with $50,000.

Under this contingency, there is a possibility the city would pay $200,000 but only if the cost of the project reached $400,000.

Additionally,
Mayor Gabriel Greer said if the cost were reach above $300,000, the Key
Building Program committee would have to approve the additional costs.
All of this would incentivise the developers to keep the cost low and to
work efficiently, he said.

Greer said McClure and Pattison are
both established businessmen who have the qualifications, background and
history of being able to run their own businesses.

“Jason has
been fermenting apple cider wine and he’s been able to get the current
product that he produces distributed through Kroger, so he’s already
established himself as being able to produce and market successfully,”
he said “... Mr. Pattison has been the contractor that has renovated
several buildings in downtown Peru and I know he did a large portion of
the downtown buildings in Wabash.”

Tidd said the public
partnership between the Key Building Program and the city is necessary
to make it feasible for developers and will be an asset in getting empty
buildings taken care of.

“We truly believe it’s going to take
something like this for those buildings, otherwise they’re going to wind
up going back (to the city) and being a candidate for demolition down
the road,” Tidd said.

Additionally, nearby communities with similar programs have had success, he said.

The
council then voted to adopt the ordinance for additional
appropriations, agreeing to the partnership for the T.J. Phillips
project.